Halle Berry Hails Her "Amazing Character" In Extant

Halle Berry is the latest big name star to make the move from silver to small screen. The lead in CBS’ new sci-fi, Extant, Berry’s character is an astronaut who returns to earth only to find herself mysteriously pregnant.

Halle Berry stars in 'Extant', which hits TVs tonight

“When I read it, I thought, wow, what an amazing character," Berry told CBS News. "That's what I'm looking for: a new challenge. Something I hadn't done before. This Sci-Fi was so rooted in family and grounded, and the characters were complicated indeed. I thought hmm, this could be really wonderful."

The medium of TV has exploded in the consciousness of the masses recently, partly due to the success of long-running dramas Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. Often frowned upon for big movie actors, cable TV dramas are becoming the in-vogue way to tell stories.

"I have never looked at TV as a negative," Berry said. "As I was doing well in my movie career, I always came back to do television movies. I go where the work is. I go where the characters are. And I'm happy that other people are starting to do the same thing. The lines are blurring."

Berry was also willing to give away minor plot points when talking to CBS – given that her character is in space for one year, her pregnancy forms the biggest mystery. "You find out, but slowly," Berry said. "It's very mysterious, it's very suspenseful, and there are many twists and turns along the way getting to that resolve."

The reviews so far have been mostly positive. David hiltbrand of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote: "Extant has a clever concept that would probably work better on a bigger screen (especially the orbital scenes). But it's thoroughly entertaining--even if you wind up watching it on your shrinky-dink cellphone."